‘Misleading’: Local News Fact-Checks Democrat Candidate in New Mexico’s First District

The Democrat seeking to fill Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s vacant U.S. House seat in New Mexico’s First Congressional District race on June 1 released an attack ad this month against her Republican opponent that has received a “misleading” label from the local news.

The television ad from state Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D) claims state Sen. Mark Moores (R) was “lining his own pockets” with paycheck protection program (PPP) federal relief loans while opposing relief for New Mexicans at the federal and state level amid coronavirus lockdowns.

The ad transcript is below:

While New Mexicans struggled, Republican politician Mark Moores was lining his own pockets. Moores opposed every measure to help people during the pandemic, opposing sick leave for essential workers, opposing relief checks for families, even opposing President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, yet Moores took nearly $2 million in PPP money for his personal business, $2 million in payments as recently as February but opposing help for us.

Albuquerque’s KOB 4 determined the ad is “misleading,” stating that “by all accounts, Moores legally and ethically obtained the federal help for his small business,” which renders the line about Moores lining his own pockets “unfair and untrue.”

Moores owns a pathology lab in Roswell with his wife. Their business operated machines that analyzed coronavirus test samples and received $1.8 million in the form of two PPP loans in 2020 and 2021, the Associated Press reported. Moores told the outlet his lab saw a nearly 80 percent reduction in business because of the sharp hit the healthcare sector took during the past year and that the PPP loans provided a “financial bridge” that helped his business avoid layoffs.

Stansbury’s (pictured) ad also falsely claims Moores “opposed every measure to help people during the pandemic,” including Biden’s “American Rescue Plan.” As KOB 4 notes, Moores could not vote for or against Biden’s “American Rescue Plan” as a state legislator.

Moreover, both KOB 4 and the Associated Press highlight state-level bills Moores voted in favor of that were crafted to support New Mexicans struggling from coronavirus lockdowns, including a four-month tax holiday for restaurants and waiver of liquor license fees for the beverage industry.

In addition to the ad’s inaccuracies, Moores told Breitbart News the fact that Stansbury’s campaign put resources into attacking him bodes well for Republicans because it signals his campaign has “momentum” in a district that favors Democrats.

Breitbart News reached out to Stansbury’s campaign for comment on the ad upon its release but did not receive a response.

Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com.